Professor Rebecca L. Jones

Professor Of Sociology, Sexuality And Ageing

School of Health, Wellbeing & Social Care

rebecca.jones@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

I am Professor of Sociology, Sexuality and Ageing; my research and teaching interests centre on sociological approaches to later life, sexuality and especially sexuality in later life, often using creative methods. I specialise in producing high-quality distance learning materials, especially on challenging topics around sexuality, and in developing the skills of others in creating distance learning resources. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I keep a blog called 'Remembering My Hat', on which I reflect on my practice as an educator and a researcher, and you can find me on on LinkedIn, and on Bluesky where I am @remembermyhat.

Research

My research centres on ageing, sexuality, and sexuality in later life - there is a short video overviewing some of my research around ageing here. I deploy critical sociological theories and creative methods to challenge neo-liberal visions of successful ageing and rethink later life sexuality. I specialise in LGBTQ issues in later life, particularly ageing and bisexuality: I led the team that published the first empirical work focusing specifically on older bisexual people and used this empirical basis to advance key theoretical questions in sexualities research more widely.

My PhD (completed in 2003) used Critical Discursive Psychology and Conversation Analysis to interrogate older women’s talk about sex and ageing. Since then, I have used a variety of broadly creative, narrative and discursive approaches to investigate a range of topics including: how people imagine their own ageing and later life, normative and non-normative life courses, the ageing of LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ issues in health and social care, and especially ageing and bisexuality. More recently, I have been involved in a number of global development projects around reproductive and sexual health and rights, co-creating knowledge and learning resources on challenging topics related to sexuality, working with some of the most marginalised groups globally to reimagine and enable more inclusive futures through education.

I am a long-time member of the British Society of Gerontology, the national professional organisation for gerontologists. I am one of the authors of The Bisexuality Report and received a 'Cake Award' at BiCon 2019 for my work on bisexuality and ageing.

I am an experienced supervisor of PhD students, most recently supervising Elizabeth Ascroft's study of co-creating Comprehensive Sexuality Education resources. I would welcome applications from potential PhD students in any area related to my research interests. As a supervisor, I aim to combine a collaborative, supportive and holistic approach with intellectual rigor. Please note that we do usually require candidates to have already had some Research Methods training at Masters level before they commence a doctorate.

Teaching

I have particular expertise in the production (or course-writing) phase of creating distance teaching materials. I focus particularly on the pedagogical structure which underlies the explicit content and how this can best enable student learning. I run regular courses across the university on these topics, to support our curriculum design work. These include a set of six 'Writing for Production' workshops which support colleagues to reflect on their practice and critically analyse OU materials while I explicate underlying pedagogy. Some of the resources I have created to support this work can be found on my 'Remembering My Hat' blog under the tag 'course-writing resources'.

I have designed and created content for nine modues within the degree in Health and Social Care, and helped to present three. I have also authored and led the design of five courses on Open Learn and Open Learn Create, mostly for use by international development practitioners working on reproductive and sexual health and rights.

I have recently published a paper which combines my research and my teaching interests by using a key concept from sexuality studies to reflect on twenty years of teaching at The Open University and develop a tool that supports curriculum designers to discuss profound differences of belief and positionality around challenging topics related to sexuality.

Projects

End of Life Care (EOLC) in Care Homes

The Fellowship disseminates the findings of a mixed-method study of palliative care in care homes and develops a new research project on supporting intimate and sexual relationship in older adults living in care homes.

ACCESS – Approaches in Complex and Challenging Environments for Sustainable SRHR-CO-CREATION PHASE

The ACCESS project will generate sustainable, scalable, rights-based approaches to deliver comprehensive SRHR to all, ensuring no one is left behind, even in the most complex and challenging settings. It will work in Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. Three planned outcome changes: 1) Increased demand for and availability of quality, comprehensive SRH services and agency to claim and enjoy rights by the most marginalised populations in complex and challenging environments. (2) Strengthened SRHR capacity, preparedness and resilience of government, civil society and communities in complex and challenging environments, ensuring no one is left behind. (3) Improved national and global policy environment for an effective, coordinated, and evidence-based SRHR response in complex and challenging environments. There are six interlinked work streams, each led by one consortium partner: 1) Delivering comprehensive, quality sexual and reproductive health services: Led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) 2) Working with and for the most marginalised and underserved: Led by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance 3) Navigating complex and challenging environments: Led by the Women's Refugee Commission (WRC) 4) Generating high-quality research evidence: Led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (5) Enhancing capacity-building and learning at scale: Led by the Open University (OU) 6) Influencing through advocacy, engagement and information: Led by Internews

Aspirations of Older People with Sight Loss

This event will be based on in-depth research with 50 older people with vision impairment living in a variety of domestic environments across England plus a smaller number of relatives and practitioners.

REact (Rights, Evidence Action): Implementing a human rights documentation and monitoring system

REAct is a piece of work being undertaken as part of the ACCESS research project between the OU and consortium partner, Frontline Aids. The work involves the development of an e-learning version of Frontline Aid’s existing training course delivered, pre-pandemic, face-to-face. The end product will be a 6-hour course published on the OpenLearn Create platform. The work falls under the ‘Access to Justice’ mini-project which the OU is leading (Professor Peter Keogh). Evidence and data of human rights abuses, with a particular focus on Gender Based Violence, gathered by ‘REActors’ is/will be developed for advocacy purposes at both local, regional and national levels and be used to influence policy change - one of the key outputs of the ACCESS research programme. This AMS record covers the work that will fall outside the timeline of the ACCESS project which is being terminated ahead of schedule by FCDO at 31 December 2021. LDS are currently building the course and it is scheduled for presentation in w/c 22 January to a pilot cohort of Frontline Aid partner staff based in Uganda. The course will run over 3-weeks and it is expected that some final minor amendments will be made following feedback from the pilot cohort. This work, scheduled over January to end of March 2022 and estimated at £6000, will be paid for by Frontline Aids who will issue the OU with a service contract.

Exploring the needs and aspirations of visually impaired older people (VIOP)

As we get older we are more likely to live with visual impairment. This is something more than Presbyopia (age-related long sight) and relates to conditions such as macular degeneration and other significant causes of sight loss such as glaucoma, cataracts and diabetic retinopathy. The research aims to enable older people with visual impairments living in the community to express preferences for where and with what kinds of support they would like to live. Through in-depth interviews guided by participants the research will focus on what helps or hinders everyday living and how people can achieve what they value most in life.